computer freezing

[da hound]

my computer is driving me nuts latley it freezes on the startup screen were u see microsoft windows xp on the screen and when i am on the computer after 2 or 3 start ups it works any of u guys know wot could be causeing this :?:

[dan the acid man]

have you got any virus software installed
is evrything plugged in correctly at the back of the pc, i had one at work this moring that did this just because the printer wasnt plugged in properly

[John Ferraris]

Whatever u do make sure the hard disk activity light isn't on, or any noise coming from the harddisk, otherwise a reboot will shag ur ccomputer royally. It may simply be really slow at startup on occasions, I get this sometimes, leave it for 10 mins.

Try scandisk, see if there's any physical errors on the disk. Then run virus check, as mentioned above. Could be any number of reasons, virus or just clogged up arteries.

Try booting up in safemode with bootlog. Open up c:\bootlog.txt, check the lastenteries. Problem most likley here.

If it persists, backup, format, scandisk then install xp again. Then scandisk n defrag on a weekly basis. Boring n tedious, yes, but essential to running a smooth computer. Scandisk on a friday night, go out, mullet out in bed then wake up, job done with minimal down time. :lol:

[John Ferraris]

Then give it a good hard kick if the problems persist :lol:

[Antinoise]

That typically is a hardware problem not a windows problem (in my experience). During that screen its searching and loading all the devices on the computer.

Solution:
Unplug each devise inside of the computer one at a time and I guarantee you that after pulling a pci card.. or a stick of ram or a etc... that I will not freeze at the startup screen.

When you find the problem.. then the question is... Is the last of connectivity in the motherboard or the card... One time when I've had this happen before.. when I found the problem I switched pci slots and the prooblem was fixed. Thus not a bad pci card... but a bad pci slot...